“This City is what it is because our citizens are what they are.”
Plato
As always, the greens give way to the reds, the yellows, and the browns of early October. This particular fall, the warm weather had made the transition less uniform as some trees and plants took advantage of the warmth and sun to ‘make hay’ while others followed the genetic path that their kind had followed here in Southern Ontario for millennia. The Thames flowed well with the water of a brief but fierce rainfall the night before. Randy White sat at a table in the glass cantilever room at the Ingersoll Eatery, his one hundred eighty degree view of the Thames, Lawson Park, and the re-imagined Ingersoll Train Station gave him a sense of pride.
Randy was alone for a moment while Dana had gone to ‘freshen up’ Randy sat and thought of all the birthdays of his life and how lucky he was to have had so many people to share them with and make this journey to fifty special.
Born in Ingersoll, Randy had wandered off for a couple of decades first travelling and then working in the Tar Sands until they closed in 2025 due to a lack of demand for oil. When Randy came back home he entered a city in the process of change. Ingersoll had elected a council in 2014 that decided that the future was the only place to find the kind of Ingersoll we wanted and started to make the changes that would allow a bright future for the community. In 2014 Ingersoll was in an identity crisis and was falling prey to the ideology of branding and tourism promotion, making the town a commodity to be sold rather than a living breathing community waiting to be born again.
Dana came back to the table, “weird to be here just the two of us on your birthday honey?” she whispered smiling at Randy. He thought about Terry and Sheila in Toronto and North Bay respectively, he was proud of them but always felt a nagging absence. Everyone was coming home for thanks giving though and that would be a good time. Randy had vid-texted the Kids earlier gloating about the meal he was in for tonight and how they were stuck with residence food. Terry sent him a virtual burp, “very mature”.
Randy and Dana almost missed the seven PM reservation. Dana had gone to the co-op farm to feed the calves and clean stalls and had spent too long chatting with Ira Friedman. Randy had finished a V meeting with his customer in Sydney and completed some server upgrades for the City when he realized Dana’s absence, he was about to text Dana when Joe Stephenson rolled the Electro-shuttle up to the front door, out popped Dana as Randy opened the front door, “a little off route aren't you Joe” Randy called. Joe winked and smiled and off he went.
Randy and Dana run a tech business out of the house with The City of Ingersoll being their ‘bread and butter’. Dana the ever charming marketer had drummed up some other interesting customers in Oxford County, but also in Sydney, and Nairobi.
Ingersoll had found some rebirth economically by building internet based businesses that also had store fronts in Ingersoll. Roy’s Shoes looked for all intents and purposes like a small town establishment and Nan Wilson the friendly local sales manager instinctively cultivated that feeling for the locals. Roy’s Shoes however is known as RSI.com online and had eight hundred thousand dollars in sales in 2034. Randy and Dana created the eCommerce for the shoe store and many others through a central server farm at the City Hall Annex in the old Carnegie library and supported the whole enterprise cost effectively.
The waiter brought the bill at the end of dinner, the bill was not inexpensive but most people understood that safe, sustainable local food needed to have a fair price and the payoff was a healthy Randy and Dana and a health community. He is lucky to have his birthday at harvest as the maximum of fresh produce is available and the vegetable pie that he loves is taken off the menu at points in time when fresh local veg is not available. Dana and Randy walk off down the Thames Trail to work off some of the delicious food they just enjoyed. “We might have planted some of those peppers we ate Randy” Dana mused. He smiles, “Why did you recognize one of them?” Dana slaps Randy’s behind and he feigns pain.
Randy goes to the council meeting on Monday night. He has to report on the state of the Information Technology he oversees. Randy and Dana have procured a tiny profit for the city this quarter by the eCommerce and other services they help the city sell, a profit is not always the result but a negative spreadsheet in IT is seldom. Andy Van Riesel a long time Councillor is retiring; Andy was elected to council in 2014 and was one of the five who decided that the future was more important than re-election. Andy talked about the short lived Walker Dump, the Ingersoll Co-op, and the eCommerce proposal he forwarded in late 2015. Councillor Van Riesel is proud of what has been done and the focus on community, he holds to the wisdom of good policy, bylaw, and practices that lead to a vibrant future long term.
Randy and Dana arrive home and enter the quiet house. Dana had promised Randy a special birthday treat and he hoped he knew what that would be. He checked the schedule and sees that he’s at Armstrong’s for the final frozen blueberry packaging effort in the morning and meeting with the new marketing guy from the Ingersoll Co-op at two. He walks up the stairs and the lights go out behind him as he moves.
Plato
As always, the greens give way to the reds, the yellows, and the browns of early October. This particular fall, the warm weather had made the transition less uniform as some trees and plants took advantage of the warmth and sun to ‘make hay’ while others followed the genetic path that their kind had followed here in Southern Ontario for millennia. The Thames flowed well with the water of a brief but fierce rainfall the night before. Randy White sat at a table in the glass cantilever room at the Ingersoll Eatery, his one hundred eighty degree view of the Thames, Lawson Park, and the re-imagined Ingersoll Train Station gave him a sense of pride.
Randy was alone for a moment while Dana had gone to ‘freshen up’ Randy sat and thought of all the birthdays of his life and how lucky he was to have had so many people to share them with and make this journey to fifty special.
Born in Ingersoll, Randy had wandered off for a couple of decades first travelling and then working in the Tar Sands until they closed in 2025 due to a lack of demand for oil. When Randy came back home he entered a city in the process of change. Ingersoll had elected a council in 2014 that decided that the future was the only place to find the kind of Ingersoll we wanted and started to make the changes that would allow a bright future for the community. In 2014 Ingersoll was in an identity crisis and was falling prey to the ideology of branding and tourism promotion, making the town a commodity to be sold rather than a living breathing community waiting to be born again.
Dana came back to the table, “weird to be here just the two of us on your birthday honey?” she whispered smiling at Randy. He thought about Terry and Sheila in Toronto and North Bay respectively, he was proud of them but always felt a nagging absence. Everyone was coming home for thanks giving though and that would be a good time. Randy had vid-texted the Kids earlier gloating about the meal he was in for tonight and how they were stuck with residence food. Terry sent him a virtual burp, “very mature”.
Randy and Dana almost missed the seven PM reservation. Dana had gone to the co-op farm to feed the calves and clean stalls and had spent too long chatting with Ira Friedman. Randy had finished a V meeting with his customer in Sydney and completed some server upgrades for the City when he realized Dana’s absence, he was about to text Dana when Joe Stephenson rolled the Electro-shuttle up to the front door, out popped Dana as Randy opened the front door, “a little off route aren't you Joe” Randy called. Joe winked and smiled and off he went.
Randy and Dana run a tech business out of the house with The City of Ingersoll being their ‘bread and butter’. Dana the ever charming marketer had drummed up some other interesting customers in Oxford County, but also in Sydney, and Nairobi.
Ingersoll had found some rebirth economically by building internet based businesses that also had store fronts in Ingersoll. Roy’s Shoes looked for all intents and purposes like a small town establishment and Nan Wilson the friendly local sales manager instinctively cultivated that feeling for the locals. Roy’s Shoes however is known as RSI.com online and had eight hundred thousand dollars in sales in 2034. Randy and Dana created the eCommerce for the shoe store and many others through a central server farm at the City Hall Annex in the old Carnegie library and supported the whole enterprise cost effectively.
The waiter brought the bill at the end of dinner, the bill was not inexpensive but most people understood that safe, sustainable local food needed to have a fair price and the payoff was a healthy Randy and Dana and a health community. He is lucky to have his birthday at harvest as the maximum of fresh produce is available and the vegetable pie that he loves is taken off the menu at points in time when fresh local veg is not available. Dana and Randy walk off down the Thames Trail to work off some of the delicious food they just enjoyed. “We might have planted some of those peppers we ate Randy” Dana mused. He smiles, “Why did you recognize one of them?” Dana slaps Randy’s behind and he feigns pain.
Randy goes to the council meeting on Monday night. He has to report on the state of the Information Technology he oversees. Randy and Dana have procured a tiny profit for the city this quarter by the eCommerce and other services they help the city sell, a profit is not always the result but a negative spreadsheet in IT is seldom. Andy Van Riesel a long time Councillor is retiring; Andy was elected to council in 2014 and was one of the five who decided that the future was more important than re-election. Andy talked about the short lived Walker Dump, the Ingersoll Co-op, and the eCommerce proposal he forwarded in late 2015. Councillor Van Riesel is proud of what has been done and the focus on community, he holds to the wisdom of good policy, bylaw, and practices that lead to a vibrant future long term.
Randy and Dana arrive home and enter the quiet house. Dana had promised Randy a special birthday treat and he hoped he knew what that would be. He checked the schedule and sees that he’s at Armstrong’s for the final frozen blueberry packaging effort in the morning and meeting with the new marketing guy from the Ingersoll Co-op at two. He walks up the stairs and the lights go out behind him as he moves.
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